Creative writing: an introduction to writing for children

Children are a wonderful audience for stories. They are open to new ideas, and honest in their appreciation or criticism of them. If a child loves a book they will want it over and over again until it becomes almost a part of them, remembered forever. Children's books come in a range of formats for different ages and stages. In some, text shares the stage with pictures, in some text stands alone. It's a complex world, but a fascinating one. This course introduces stories for babies, for early readers, for middle grade and young adults, and challenges participants to have a go at them all, to discuss and share and develop their own ideas.

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Course information

Aims of the course:

To explore the range of fiction and book formats for different ages and stages of childhood.

To show how to shape and write stories, sometimes to work with illustration.

To allow participants to develop an understanding of the market, and how to pursue publication.

Course content overview:

This course will consider children of different ages and stages, and the books suited to them.

An understanding of story will be developed, considering character, plot and writing voice appropriate to the young audience and readership.

Information will be given in targeting different potential publication openings.

Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):

Orientation Week: 16 - 22 April 2018

Teaching Weeks: 23 April - 27 May 2018

Feedback Week: 28 May - 3 June 2018

Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.

While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).

Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).

A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.

What our students say about our online creative writing courses - September 2015

"The course has given me the confidence I needed to carry on with my writing"

"The feedback was constructive and the course has given me confidence to pursue my writing further"

Entry requirements

This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.

Our online courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences.

Given the nature of creative writing, it is important that students' use of English is sufficiently fluent to be able to understand in English nuances of meaning and have a familiarity with the structure and grammar of English. Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language in order to get the maximum benefit from the course.